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When you consider how often new products are released in most technology categoriesfor example, Apple is often chided for only releasing new iPhones and iPads once a yearit is pretty incredible that the three major products in the gaming console market have been around since 2006 or earlier. The Microsoft Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, and Sony PlayStation 360 may be getting a bit long in the tooth, but customer satisfaction with the companies behind these products has only shown a slight decline in the four years that PCMag has fielded Readers' Choice surveys in the gaming console category. And of course, next year will be an entirely new ball game with the arrival of Sony PlayStation 4 and Microsoft's Xbox One.

Red denotes Readers' Choice Winner.

Sony earns the PCMag Readers' Choice Award again this year as it has done each of the last four years. Sony's overall satisfaction rating, 8.7 on a scale of 0 (extremely dissatisfied) to 10 (extremely satisfied), is the same it earned in 2011 and down only slightly from last year when readers rated overall satisfaction at 8.8. Sony earned the highest scores in ease of use (8.5), overall reliability (8.8), and likelihood to recommend (8.7). Sony also had top scores in nearly all of our drill-down ratings including picture quality (9.2), sound quality (9.0), fun (9.0), game selection (8.6), game controllers (8.5), and gaming by yourself (8.9).

The PlayStation is also highly regarded for non-gaming-related activities: watching Blu-ray discs and DVDs (9.0) and for streaming media from services such as Netflix (8.9) and Hulu (8.5).

Microsoft earned an Honorable Mention in 2012 when overall satisfaction rated 8.6 but this year the company dropped to 8.3, leaving too wide a gap between it and Sony to earn the designation again. Still, Microsoft earned ratings over 8.0 in every measure except quality of third-party add-on products (7.6), watching Blu-ray discs and DVDs (7.3; the Xbox 360 does not support Blu-ray) and watching Hulu (7.9). Microsoft also continues to have the highest satisfaction ratings in multiplayer online gaming (8.2 compared with Sony's 7.8 and Nintendo's 6.4). Microsoft led in this measure the two previous years as well; the question first entered the survey in 2011.

Nintendo, which brought casual gaming to the fore when it introduced the Wii, has lost some of its luster; its overall satisfaction dropped from 8.1 in 2012 to 7.8. Nintendo still earns good ratings for fun (8.4), multiplayer gaming in the same room (8.1, the same as Microsoft and just behind Sony's 8.2), and streaming Netflix (8.2), but all of its other ratings were under 8.0.

Sony Corporation
For the fourth straight year, Sony earns the highest ratings and is our Readers' Choice. Sony developed the complete home entertainment device, providing a very satisfying experience for playing games and watching HD videos on disc or over the Internet. The PS4 has a lot to live up to when it arrives.